Reena Sheth, World Wellness Weekend Ambassador for India and APAC, believes wellness is a natural rhythm of life that everyone deserves. She shares with Vidhi Arya her new role and her vision for the future of India’s wellness sector.

From launching a single spa activation in Mumbai in 2019 as a City Ambassador at World Wellness Weekend to being named the World Wellness Weekend Ambassador for India and APAC, Reena Sheth’s wellness journey is an inspiration. To her, this new role is a mission to honour tradition, embrace innovation and lead wellness towards a more conscious and collaborative future. In an exclusive interview, she talks about her expectations from this new chapter in her life.

What does this new title mean for you personally and professionally?

This role marks a meaningful step forward for both my personal philosophy and professional direction. Personally, it aligns with my belief that wellness must evolve from a service offering into a shared societal value—a way we design experiences, build communities and shape the future of hospitality, tourism and public health. It also aligns deeply with my own values: that wellness is not just luxury, it is a right, a ritual and a rhythm of life.

Professionally, it presents a unique opportunity to represent the wellness perspectives of both India and the wider APAC region, not in isolation, but in conversation with the world.

As an Ambassador, I represent a movement active in over 160 countries, guided by five core pillars: sleep, nutrition, movement, mindfulness and purpose. In this role, I see myself as a facilitator, helping countries, cultures and communities articulate their wellness stories with more clarity, confidence and continuity.

It is also a chance to bring underrepresented voices into global wellness dialogues, and to champion emotionally intelligent, inclusive, and forward-looking models of wellness that honour both tradition and innovation. This title is not just an accolade, it is an activation point for systems, stories, and shared leadership.

How are you planning to elevate Indian traditional wellness globally?

India’s wellness heritage is profound, but its global value lies in how we present it: with clarity, relevance and cultural confidence. My focus is on enabling authentic participation at every level, from destination spas and curated retreats to community therapists, alternative healers and even local salons who hold deep traditions of touch, care and sensory wellbeing.

Through my advisory role with the Beautiful Hearts Fund, I have seen how India’s salon and grooming communities play a vital, yet often invisible, role in emotional support, self-worth and daily rituals of healing. By bringing these voices into the wellness narrative, we shift wellness from being elite to being everyday and inclusive.

Globally, I would want Indian practitioners and venues to gain structured visibility through:

• Inclusion on the World Wellness Weekend global wellness map, which connects them with wellness travellers, industry partners and aligned platforms.

• Participation in one of the tiered sponsorship programmes, which offer a range of opportunities— from local campaign alignment to international press features, co-branded content and ambassador-guided visibility support.

What role will innovation and modern science play in your approach?

Innovation and modern science are powerful tools. They shouldn’t just override tradition, but enhance its relevance, broaden its reach and affirm its impact.

India’s traditional wellness systems—Ayurveda, yoga, pranayama, marma therapy—are inherently holistic, intuitive, and personalised. For centuries, they have addressed physical, emotional and spiritual health in ways that modern science is only beginning to articulate. What was once understood through energy, doshas and seasonal rhythms is now echoed in nervous system regulation, chronobiology and epigenetics.

My approach is to bridge the two worlds, using innovation to translate traditional knowledge into frameworks that are accessible and measurable for today’s consumers and global hospitality partners. This includes:

• AI-led emotional mapping to personalise treatments based on mood and energy.

• The integration of sound therapy, light therapy and biometric feedback into rituals to enhance sensory depth and track outcomes.

• The development of emotionally intelligent guest journeys that use Indian philosophy as a foundation, but are delivered through experience design, language and data-driven formats.

What’s your take on making wellness more inclusive and sustainable?

True wellness cannot be measured only by outcomes. It must also be evaluated by who has access to it, who represents it and how it is sustained over time.

Inclusivity begins with redefining what a wellness space looks like. It could be a luxury retreat, yes, but it could just as meaningfully be a neighbourhood salon, a forest trail, a village courtyard or a small-town yoga teacher’s rooftop studio. In India and across APAC, so much of our healing happens in these quiet, everyday places. By recognising and elevating these spaces, we shift wellness from exclusivity to everyday dignity.

It also means expanding representation: bringing in more women-led, community-rooted and regionally diverse voices; acknowledging neurodiversity, different body types and socioeconomic realities; and creating formats that are accessible, multilingual and culturally intuitive.

For me, sustainability is equally about cultural preservation and ecological responsibility, which means:

• Supporting slow, seasonal and locally sourced rituals.

• Encouraging formats that uplift communities rather than extract from them.

• Designing guest journeys and hospitality experiences that regenerate both the individual and the environment.

India and the APAC region are well-positioned to lead this shift, not through reinvention, but through remembrance. Our traditions have always embodied interdependence, simplicity and respect for nature. The work ahead lies in reframing these principles through modern platforms, inclusive language and regenerative business models.

Inclusion and sustainability are not themes, they are the foundation of wellness with integrity.